In the News

Record Number of State Bills Favor Abortion Rights

April 10, 2014 — Although state lawmakers have continued with an onslaught of antiabortion-rights bills this year, a record number of states are considering measures aimed at protecting abortion rights and access, according to a new report from the Guttmacher Institute, the Christian Science Monitor's "DC Decoder" reports.

According to the report, 38 states in the first quarter of 2014 introduced 303 provisions designed to restrict abortion access. During the same time period, more than a dozen states introduced 64 measures that would expand or protect abortion access, a higher number than in any one year over the last 25 years, the report said.

Legislation Protecting, Expanding Abortion Access

So far this year, two states have enacted legislation protecting or expanding abortion access. Vermont repealed a law that banned abortion, which predated the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision, while Utah Gov. Gary Herbert (R) signed into law a measure that waives the state's mandatory pre-abortion counseling and ultrasound when a women's health or life is in danger or the fetus has severe anomalies.

Meanwhile, in three states, at least one chamber of the legislature has passed legislation supporting abortion rights. New Hampshire is considering a measure (SB 319) that would impose a 25-foot, no-protest "buffer zone" around reproductive health clinics, while New York is considering a bill that would legalize abortion through 24 weeks of pregnancy or if a woman's life or health is in danger. A bill (HB 2148) in Washington would require state insurance plans to cover abortion if they offer maternity coverage.

According to "DC Decoder," the wave of such legislation was kicked off last year, when two states -- California and Colorado -- became the first to pass pro-abortion-rights measures since 2006. California enacted a measure (AB 154) that allows nurse practitioners to perform first-trimester abortions, while Colorado repealed an abortion ban that predated Roe.

Majority of States Focused on Antiabortion-Rights Legislation

Despite pushback from abortion-rights supporters, the report found that the majority of states are still passing more antiabortion-rights legislation overall. So far this year, two states have passed laws that restrict abortion: Indiana, which banned most abortion coverage in private health plans, and South Dakota, which banned abortions based on the sex of the fetus.

Comments

Elizabeth Nash, state issues manager at Guttmacher and co-author on the report, said that the increase in legislation aimed at protecting or expanding abortion access is "the result of several years of being pummeled by abortion opponents." According to "DC Decoder," in 2013, 22 states enacted 70 antiabortion-rights measures, following 43 such measures in 2012 and 92 in 2011.

Nash noted that most of the introduced legislation that supports abortion access "won't see the light of day, but they certainly signal that people have had enough of these abortion restrictions" (Feldmann, "DC Decoder," Christian Science Monitor, 4/9).

Video Round Up

An Interview with Justice Ginsburg on the State of Abortion Access

In a rare interview, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg tells MSNBC's Irin Carmon it is a "crying shame" that state abortion restrictions are making the procedure increasingly "[i]naccessible" to many low-income women. Watch the video

Datapoints

A Look at Abortion Coverage in the ACA's Marketplace Plans, Repro Health Report Card, More

This week's charts depict why abortion coverage is unavailable in many states' ACA marketplace plans for 2015. We also feature a national reproductive health report card and an interactive look at abortion restrictions in Missouri. Read more

At A Glance

"[Roe v. Wade] protects a woman's freedom to make her own choices about her body and her health, and reaffirms a fundamental American value: that government should not intrude in our most private and personal family matters."

— President Obama, commemorating the 42nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Read more